Matteo Renzi picks fight with Angela Merkel

Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi has built a reputation as a mischief-maker on the European scene, but at a Brussels summit Friday he took it to the next level: He went after Germany.

Renzi’s clash with German Chancellor Angela Merkel during the meeting of EU leaders Friday spiced up what turned out to be a somewhat lackluster set of accomplishments from the two-day summit.

“It was very impressive how tough he was” in confronting Merkel on several key EU issues, said a minister who was in the room.

The clash with Merkel highlights Renzi’s increasingly confrontational posture towards EU officials. In the lastsixmonths, he’s quarreled with European Council President Donald Tusk and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, and other leaders and diplomats often gripe about him as pushy and full of himself.

Among Renzi’s issues with Merkel was a deposit guarantee system in the eurozone. Germany is reluctant to go ahead with the proposal as German savers could be exposed to risks from polices implemented in other countries.

With Italians increasingly disillusioned with German-led Europe, his more aggressive strategy could be popular with voters.

The Italian premier, who has been pushing for the proposal, accused Merkel of reneging on an earlier pledge to support it. In his remarks on the deposit guarantee system, Renzi had the backing of two left-wing governments, Portugal and Greece, according to the source.

“Merkel was on the defensive,” said the minister, who added that the German chancellor denied she had changed her view on the proposal, saying it had never been a priority for Berlin.

Enough is enough

Tensions between Italy and Germany had already been rising ahead of the summit. After the success of Marine Le Pen and her National Front party in the first round of French regional elections two weeks ago, Renzi took to Facebook to blame European economic policies for the rise of the far-right party, falling short of openly accusing Berlin for its austerity push.

A top Italian official before the meeting expressed the view of his government when asked about the fight with Germany, telling POLITICO: “genug ist genug” which in German means “enough is enough.”

Renzi is under political pressure at home, facing local elections next year in which he is expected to lose ground to populist, Euroskeptic parties. During the course of the two-day meeting in Brussels, Renzi went on the attack against Berlin several times, according to sources. And with Italians increasingly disillusioned with German-led Europe, his more aggressive strategy could be popular with voters.

Pipeline problems

Renzi also accused Merkel of a political double-standard over the involvement of German companies in the construction of a gas pipeline with Russia, Nord Stream, at a time when the EU is about to approve the extension of sanctions against Moscow, according to a diplomat.

Renzi said he was opposed to automatically renewing the sanctions without opening a discussion on the pipeline project. During the summit, leaders discussed the merits of the controversial project after several others raised concerns.

Renzi also accused Germany of profiting from the euro crisis, pointing to moves by the German airport operator Fraport to buy airports in Greece after Merkel urged Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras to privatize them.

“You cannot say that you are giving your blood to Europe,” Renzi told Merkel after the German chancellor spoke of Berlin’s push for European growth, according to an official.

“I get on very well with Angela” — Matteo Renzi.

After the summit ended, both leaders sought to downplay their confrontation.

Merkel, while acknowledging a spirited exchange with Renzi over the pipeline issue and deposit insurance scheme, refused to give ground.

“The German position is that we reject a collectivization of deposit insurance,” Merkel said. “I made the German position clear again.”

Renzi also went for a soft line: “I get on very well with Angela,” he said, denying that he attacked Germany. “I did not attack it and I will never attack it.”

The Italian premier told journalists that his raising of the Nord Stream issue “triggered a nice discussion. For the first time a majority of countries supported Italy. Those against it were only Germany and the Netherlands.”

Another signal of Renzi’s combative posture came just before the summit started with the news, confirmed by other sources, that he was planning to remove the Italian ambassador to the European Union, Stefano Sannino, because he considers him too soft.

Sannino will be replaced by Italy’s current ambassador in Moscow, Cesare Maria Ragaglini, according to press reports confirmed by sources. Ragaglini knows less about Brussels than the EU veteran Sannino, but Renzi likes him because he is much more aggressive, diplomats said.

Awkward customer

Renzi has a history of rubbing EU leaders the wrong way. EU officials said that often during summits, he spends his time looking at his mobile phone, checking messages, and refusing to pay attention to other speakers. When he speaks, some leaders and diplomats leave the room, the officials said, adding that he often comes across as brash, said one official.

His relationship with Tusk has been described as “often difficult” by officials on both sides. After a meeting in October, Renzi openly attacked Tusk after the former Polish prime minister put Italy and Hungary in the same basket of countries that are not respecting EU rules on migration.

“What President Tusk said showed little respect for the efforts of the Italian people,” Renzi said.

Two months ago, Juncker vented his frustration at Renzi during a breakfast with journalists. Juncker argued that the Commission had done more to help Italy than to help France in approving their budgets for next year but Renzi still insisted on attacking the Commission, according to a source who was at the meeting.

Renzi’s relations with European Parliament President Martin Schulz are also not always easy. In October, Renzi complained to Schulz that he had invited Merkel and French President François Hollande to speak to the Parliament.

According to a parliamentary source, Renzi said he was upset that he was not invited.

Schulz, according to the source, reacted angrily, saying that if Renzi wanted to be more present in Europe he should do a better job of showing it.

Giuseppe Marrosu

Berlusconi is back.

Posted on 12/19/15 | 12:15 PM CET

jubus

I agree with Mr. Renzi in some part, although I do not like socialist/communist comedians.
Germany acts in hypocritical way. NordStream is purely political option, targeting Belarus, Ukraine, Poland as a potential territory of gas supply from Russia to Germany. The same as South Stream from Russia to the Balkans and Italy. But due to the anti-Russian sanctions (which I partly support), SouthStream project is froze. Why then NordStrean II is a to built?
I do not like Franco-German motor of EU, for me this is the cause of the this whole mess, related to EU (I am a diehard Eurosceptic). Italy should do more to balance the disastrous policies of both Germany and France, at least to the moment, when Marine Le Pen and FN not take power in France.
Paris-German Axis is like mixture of Berlin-Rome, Berlin-Moscow and London-Paris alliances during the WWII. Axis of Evil.

Posted on 12/19/15 | 12:29 PM CET

Giuseppe Marrosu

Italy used to be one of the main driving forces behind European integration. Germany was another.

The two countries still pay politically for sparking and then losing WW2, while the UK and France in equal and opposite way enjoy having fought on the righ side in the same war.
European integration has being used by intelligent, righteous leaders as De Gasperi, Adenauer, Prodi and Kohl not only to promote friendship in a continent full of hatred but also to reset the power balance between European States based on the peaceful present, rather than on the ugly past.

Unfortunatelly European leaders of today won’t or can’t follow their examples. Merkel, who sidelined Kohl in a sort of betrayal, is not briliant in this regard.

Renzi is plainly desastrous.

Posted on 12/19/15 | 12:33 PM CET

jubus

I do agree with Nick The Greek. As a Pole, focused on our nearest neighbourhood, pretty fluent in German and Russian (I prefer to speak/write these languages than English), I am disgusted of this Germano-centrism of EU. France is partly a Germanic country, too, since Germanic Franks were dominating post-Roman Galia.
EU is focused on Franco-German, Paris-Berlin core. It is a Germanic Core, not Roman-Germanic.
Countries like Greece and Italy are the true backbone of European Civilization. Germany is a joke, they did nothing positive in European history, at least since creation of Germany in 1871.
Their Drang Nach Osten, turn of Slavic peoples, like Czechs, Poles but also Sorbians (living in Saxony)is a crime against humanity.
Europe needs to be truly balanced, Slavic countries, like Poland, Ukraine, but also Russia in some way, should be also in the Core
It is high time to say Nein/Non to Paris-Berlin/Franco-German Axis. It is high time for Athens-Rome-Madrid-Warsaw-Kiev-Moscow-London Axis.

Posted on 12/19/15 | 12:36 PM CET

jubus

I do not agree with Mr Giuseppe. This Berlin-Rome Axis reminds me Hitler-Mussollini Alliance. I do not differ between Entente and Axis, though. Only bigger role of Eastern Europe, especially Central-European Countries, like Poland, Hungary, Romania, ex-Yugoslavia, but also Ukraine, supported by Nordic Countries might help.
Balance of power in Europe is based on existence of strong balance in Central Europe, everyone knows, that lack of existence of strong Poland-Ukraine-Belarus (Commonwealth)during the era of Partitions of Poland (1795-1918)was the key of inevitability of eruption of Great War in 1914.
Weaker Germany and weaker Russia, stronger Poland, stronger Romania, stronger Ukraine – only then, Europe will find a balance of power.

Posted on 12/19/15 | 12:41 PM CET

Giuseppe Marrosu

Nick the Greek:
If you’re proposing a Southern European Union thanks, but no thanks.
Italy already paid billions to save debt-laden Greece and as a thanks we got Tsipras and a referendum in which they refused to honour the obligations they freely accepted in exchange for that help.
We’ll better stay with the Germans: they are an hard-working, serious Nation that sticks to its commitments.

Posted on 12/19/15 | 1:01 PM CET

duodecim stellae

Giuseppe Marrosu, I agree with your historical analysis, about the i,portance of Germany and Italy in Europe, though as you said current politicians do the historic role of these two countries no justice. The last European leader, that really seems to care about Europe is Francois Hollande, but as a more or less failed President in France he won’t be able to save the Union on his own. In History a lot of visionary men for Europe came from Germany and Italy like Spinelli, (as well from France, like Robert Schuman and Jean Monnet) but after all it was the French-German-Tandem that pushed and lead European Integration forward, with political Italy more or less only following. I think for the future we really need a core Union of the original ECSC, wich were just France, West-Germany, Italy and the BeNeLux countries. Especially a good cooperation between Germany, France and Italy will be essentiel to save the European idea. With around 200 million people these 3 countries make up two thirds of the population of the Eurozone and could represent a very big European power, if they worked together. But Germany under Merkel will not do Europe any good. This power-hungry but uninspired opportunist of Angela Merkel must be gone. I as a german citizen see it positive that Merkel-Germany is loosing power in this Union. At least it brings some movement into the constellation. If Renzi really wants to change Europe for the good, he should try to work closer together with Hollande, but I fear Renzi like Merkel does not really care about Europe. He just tries to start the blame game like Merkel in a way does, because both see the possibility of a failing Europe and don’t want to be held responsible for it, although they actually are.